I'm Not Perfect
by Half-Blind Otaku
Summary: "I'm. Not. Perfect!" so Weiss had said during initiation, and though she hated admitting it even to herself, it was absolutely true. "But I'm still leagues better than you," was she though? Takes place after episode 16. Please let me know what you think in reviews & such; enjoy!
1. Not So Above It All

A flustered Weiss Schnee slapped her pen down on her desk and, patience sapped by the incessant repetition of _hey Weiss… hey Weiss… hey Weiss… _and paper footballs from the less academic of her teammates; being a nuisance must run in the family. Though Blake had mercifully found her books of dubious academic value more absorbing than similarly making a pest of herself, but nature hates a vacuum, and so Ruby and Yang had apparently been more than happy to compensate for this deficiency in their bookish faunas teammate. Collecting her books in a huff as she stood from the desk and pushed the chair back in (frustrated though she was, there was no excuse forget her manners) and then turned for the door, intent on resuming her studies in the library.

"I'll be in the library," she announced, doing her best to limit the depth of the scowl on her face; she was trying to be nice, but old habits die hard, "don't need me,"

Yang made a pitiful attempt to conceal the latest paper football that she'd been aiming at the back of Weiss's head, "Uh… sure…"

"Okay, but Weiss…"

Weiss suppressed the urge to cringe…. and cringe... and cringe… "Yes, Ruby?"

"Don't forget that we've got that practice session this afternoon…"

"Isn't Goodwitch reffing?" Yang asked, accidentally dropping her paper football down onto Blake's bed.

"Mmmhm," Blake responded, only half paying attention as she appropriated the lost projectile as a new bookmark.

"Guess we can't go easy on Jaune then…"

"I'll be in the library," Weiss repeated, proceeding out of the room without further delay.

"What's her issue?" Yang muttered, but then her lavender eyes sprang wide open, "Crap! Did we have a test coming up?"

"Nope," Blake answered dispassionately, turning a page.

Ruby sat up in her bed and unfolded Crescent Rose to lovingly polish it, shrugging, "I think that she just really really likes to study,"

"Does she really _like _anything?"

Grimm Studies. Weiss had read this rather blandly titled text front to back a dozen times since coming to Beacon, but diligence hurt no one, and it only took one carelessness slip to meet with unfortunate consequences. Still, she couldn't help coming to the realization that, as she sat there in a lonely corner of the library with her palm pressed to her face that she had been bored of this before she'd left team RWBY's dorm. Ruby's piteous attempts to initiate conversation, though she was trying far too hard, and Yang's mischievous wastes of paper that she really ought to have used for taking notes might have been irksome, each in its own special way, but at the least it hadn't been this dull...

_No! Studying is important! Get it together you dunce! If you don't study you won't graduate at the head of the class and then…_

Weiss moved her had up and out of her face, displacing her hair until her fingers brushed over the scar above her left eye, causing her fingers to recoil, and then she set her had down on the table.

_No excuses Weiss, You are a Schnee! You must be worthy of the name… _

Still, the Vytal festival just days away, and she had to admit to herself that her preparation for the tournament would be better served by practicing with Myrtenaster and a certain scythe-wielding spaz then by inflicting headaches upon herself by reading books that she had almost committed to memory _again…_

Glancing surreptitiously over at the entrance of the quiet study room, Weiss stood, quietly moved to the door, and shut it. She had an hour to kill yet, so she may as well use it practically… Not that she was fool enough to let loose with Myrtenaster's dust chambers or even her aura, but there was enough room in around the table to practice some footwork. Without further pause she drew her weapon and took a fencing stance.

And there she was, facing a pack of Beowolves, with only a moment to take a deep breath before the penny dropped and the scene erupted in chaos. Letting out the breath as the boldest of the Grimm bounded forward at her; taking a step forward as the beast prepared to maul her, she plunged Myrtenaster into the monster's chest up to the hilt. Drawing in another breath as she withdrew the rapier, she stepped back, pivoting out on her right foot, allowing the next beast, which had been attempting to attack her from behind to instead collide with its now mortally wounded pack-mate, whereupon Weiss drove Myrtenaster through its temple. Moving into a slashing stroke as she pulled the sword from the second Boevolf's skull, she cut a third open across the stomach, ducking and stepping out of the way as the gored monster collapsed. Combining a pirouette with a slashing attack she tore a red gash across another Beowolf's jugular, and then, reversing her grip on Myrtenaster, she combined a backward step with a thrust directly into the gaping jaws of a fifth assailant.

She took another breath.

Resorting for the first time to her aura, she generated a glyph so as to augment her jump, and thus narrowly escaping the claws of a half-dozen other slavering Beowolves. Landing upon the a nearby boulder protruding from the ground as she came out of her backflip, she wasted no time restoring her fighting stance in time to run the first enemy to clamber up after her through, pulling back just as quickly as the beast fell back to earth. Felling two more with a single stroke of her rapier, she was nonetheless forced to step back to the edge of the boulder by the remaining three Beowolves that had managed to lumber onto equal footing with her. She would not allow these _things _to best her though, with a twist of her wrist, a shimmering vertical blue glyph appeared between the huntress-in-training and her prey; the Beowolves were powerless to escape as the glow intensified and the glyph emitted such force upon them that they were all thrown back against the nearby trees.

"Uh… Weiss?

The Schnee heiress visibly flinched, never before having so loathed the sound of her own name, "Yes, Ruby?" she answered with clenched teeth, eyes closed.

"Well, I was coming to get you 'cause our match with Team JNPR is in ten minutes… but if you're not feeling alright…" Ruby tugged nervously on the sides of her red cloak, not wanting to say something to upset Weiss further.

The heiress's eyes shot open almost as fast as her face reddened at the sight of her books splayed open and scattered on the floor against the far wall, at which point she also realized that she was standing on the study table, sword drawn…

"Gah! Ruby! Why didn't you knock? Were you raised in a barn?"

Ruby embarrassedly scuffed her shoe on the floor, "Mmmm… I kind of did… several times…"

Weiss's eyes widened still further, _Crap! Crap! Crap!_

"Your moves were impressive…" Ruby offered weakly, "I would've just stayed outside watching, but I figured I ought to step in when you started abusing your books…"

Arriving at the conclusion that this conversation would be slightly less embarrassing if she were to conduct it from virtually anywhere other than standing on a table, Weiss searched for a dignified means of getting down, but found that the same finishing move that scattered her books on the floor had also toppled the chars, so she was forced to awkwardly hop down before glaring daggers at Ruby, "We shall never speak of this again, do you understand?"

Ruby blinked several times, but nodded all the same, perplexingly stepping backwards and putting up her arms defensively, "Sure just… don't hurt me!"

It was Weiss's turn to blink confusedly several times, bemused until she glanced down and recalled that she was still holding Myrtenaster drawn, and realizing this, quickly sheathing it, "Right, now, help me pick up these books and we'll be along to meet the others? Mustn't keep Professor Goodwitch waiting…"

"Uh... right…"


	2. Discipline vs Talent

**Author's Note: Hi everybody, I'm back! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and please don't hesitate to let me know what you think about this one. I intend to write at least four chapters of this story, but it might go on longer, depending on how the story evolves. Enjoy!**

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Glynda Goodwitch began after curtly acknowledging Weiss and Ruby's late arrival, "in light of the rapidly approaching Vytal festival, and the combat tournament thereof, in which _all _of you have expressed interest in competing…" Professor Goodwitch shot Jaune a withering look, but offered no further criticism, "Professor Ozpin has decided to suspend classes until the conclusion of festivities; that said I see no reason why we need waste that time."

Weiss nodded approvingly while Yang took a boxing stance with an ear to ear grin, and Ruby took to stroking the Crescent Rose like cherished pet. Only Blake, her nose buried in book with a blank sleeve, appeared totally unmoved. Across the field stood team JNPR arrayed opposite team RWBY; Nora mirrored Yang's huge smile, spinning her hammer like it were just a little baton. Pyrrha smiled pleasantly, and Jaune seemed nervous, but then, when didn't he? Similar to Blake, Ren was unruffled over on the JNPR side, though ostensibly more attentive to Professor Goodwitch.

"To that end, it has been suggested that interested teams practice together for the tournament-,"

"Uh, Professor Goodwitch? Were we really the only teams to sign up for this?"

Weiss let out an unimpressed sigh; it was such a Jaune question, practically a repeat of the initiation.

"No, Mr. Arc," Goodwitch glared at him again, "If you'd prefer to practice with team CRDL, Professor Port would be happy to have you in the eastern field,"

Jaune visibly flinched, "Uh… no thank you ma'am…"

Yang sniggered despite recent events, earning a swift sisterly elbow to the ribs to shut her up.

"At any rate, let's start with paired exercises; turn to your partners and take five minutes to spar; after that, reconvene and take a few minutes to discuss each other's strengths and weakness before reporting for the next exercise. Any questions?'

"Team RWBY ready to go!" Ruby added with an enthusiastic salute.

Finding no objection from team JNPR, Goodwitch nodded approvingly, "Good, now face your partners and begin!"

The four pairs spread out across the available space of the field, and suddenly it was just Ruby and Weiss; the rest was just so much background. Breathing deep, she drew Myrtenaster and leveled it in Ruby's direction. As she met those silver eyes across the few meters distance between them Weiss's grip tightened about the hilt of her weapon. _This is your chance Weiss; show them all how great you are, show this child how much better-. _Weiss shook her head, _no, this is practice; Ruby and I are partners- think teammate, not rival…_

Ruby lowered her scythe for a moment as the others started in earnest, "Weiss… are you alright?"

The heiress straightened her posture afresh and blinked a few times, "Of course you dunce! Now let's get this over with!"

"Alright, here I come!" before the red-cloaked girl could even finish her broad smile she was gone, as though she had simply vanished.

_Where did she-? GAH!_

Weiss barely sidestepped the first stroke of Ruby's crimson blade,

_Damn, that was fast!_

Quickly composing herself, Weiss conjured a glyph at her feet so as to drift safely out of the Crescent Rose's reach and take stock of the situation. During the initiation in the Emerald Forest, Ruby had been all over the place in streaks of red and black almost too fast to be followed by the eye, always attacking to the exclusion of any other maneuvers, but now…no, that was exactly how she was coming at Weiss now too. Weiss rolled her eyes, _such a spaz-_

She couldn't finish that thought though, as three more consecutive strokes from her hyperactive team leader forced her to backpedal again. As Ruby kept coming, spurred to even greater determination by her succession of near-misses, Weiss found herself at a loss for what to do; the little maniac didn't give her a moment to think. She gritted her teeth as she adjusted Myrtenaster's dust chamber to the red setting, _No excuse Weiss! A Grimm wouldn't give you time to think either! _

As Ruby wound up for a vicious spinning attack, Weiss took her first action beyond evasion. Holding out Myrtenaster to block Ruby's hurricane of blows, Weiss allowed a slight grin to tug at the corner of her mouth as the younger girl's crimson scythe met with the percussive barrier of flaming Dust and was set off balance, a surprised look on her face. Seizing the initiative, Weiss skated forward to close the distance between them, putting herself inside Ruby's attack reach. Eyes wide, Ruby barely managed to twist to the side fast enough for Weiss's thrust to miss her stomach by inches. Pirouetting so as not to waste the momentum of withdrawing her sword, Weiss followed up with a lateral stroke, this one connecting and sending Ruby to a knee. Weiss was about to exploit the perceived opening when Ruby's sly grin and the sound of the rifle chamber cocking stopped her cold and she noticed that the Crescent was immediately behind her.

_Crap!_

With a panicked flick of the wrist Weiss used the Glyph that she'd been standing on to propel herself skyward as the Crescent Rose discharged and the blade cut through where she'd been standing a heartbeat earlier, _That would have bruised…_

Not about to let Ruby's smug look go unanswered however, Weiss responded by lunching a Dust-fueled fireball at Ruby as she landed on a fresh glyph and slid backward. Ruby lunged out of the path of the flaming destruction and leveled her 'sweetheart' in Weiss's direction, letting off three more shells. The Schnee heiress met the assault with a vertical barrier glyph, a shower of pale blue sparks erupting with each impact. By the time she'd let the shield fade, however, Ruby had vanished again, and it was only when the breath was knocked from Weiss's lungs that she discovered that Ruby had used the time Weiss had been preoccupied to dash forward and take a swing.

The heiress's footing evaporated as she tumbled down onto her back but before Ruby could seal the deal with a downward stroke, Weiss conjured a vertical glyph some meters away in the direction she had only just been facing; the circle of power darkened as Weiss felt herself being dragged towards it and once more out of Ruby's reach. The glyph righted itself as the felt her feet come into contact with it, and she was one more one her feet, facing a momentarily puzzled Ruby.

"How did you-? AAAH!" Ruby didn't have time to finish the question as three shafts of ice rocketed in her direction. Spinning the Crescent Rose instinctively, Ruby smashed the first two projectiles midair and arched herself backward to dodge the third. To prevent herself from falling onto her back she thrust the head of her weapon into the ground behind her and jumped backward in a partial flip until she was balanced aloft at the top of the shaft.

"Hey Weiss! Look!" Ruby called over, her voice muffled by her cloak, now draping down over her head, "I'm just like Nora at initiation!"

Weiss let out a sigh; _Does she think this a game?_

When she started to lose her balance, Ruby fired off the Crescent rose again, using the force to complete her partial backflip and land firmly on her two feet once more, "How was that?"

Weiss drew herself up for another charge and launched herself forward, Myrtenaster ready to strike, but Ruby, giggling like a schoolgirl, tore into another death spin with her scythe. Attacking that head on was suicide, so Weiss called up vertical glyph to allow her a sudden change in course, throwing herself instead thirty degrees to the right, rather than into the gaping maw of Ruby's favorite toy.

_Okay, so she can defend, _Weiss thought, once more taking stock of her options, _Now how do you get around THAT? Loopholes Weiss, think Loopholes! _

Realization dawned on her with a grin as she checked to confirm that Myrtenaster was still set to the blues setting, _Maybe I can't get close, but…_

Weiss took a knee, planting Myrtenaster into the ground, causing a sheet of ice to overtake the grass before her and surge towards Ruby. Too late the crimson-cloaked huntress-in-training realized her peril and slipped into a tumbling fall as the ground froze over beneath her. She only just avoided slamming to the frozen earth by plunging the Crescent Rose's blade into the earth and using it for support as she struggled to reclaim her footing on the sheet of glassy ice. Never one to waste an opportunity, Weiss sprang into action.

Ruby unceremoniously yanked herself out of the way by the haft of her weapon, pulling herself onto a reliable footing once more as she heaved her scythe out of the ground. Stifling the urge to growl in frustration, Weiss pivoted on her left foot and positioned herself for another pass. The distance was closed in an instant, and steel rang on steel in a flurry of blades. Weiss's attacks were frustrated at every stroke by Ruby's manic spinning defense. Weiss knew that if she could just get to Ruby before she could launch into that crimson pinwheel the Crescent Rose's sheer size would prove cumbersome in a close-quarters duel, but fast as she was she could never seem to get to Ruby quicker than she could turn herself into a human buzz-saw.

Weiss took a flustered glance down at her scroll while she waited just out of reach for Ruby to dizzy herself. Yellow. _This has to end. Now._

Then there it was: her opening. Ruby slowed and planted both as she ended the spin, disentangling her weapon from the otherwise impractical grip between her arms and back that enabled her spinning attack to take a more conventional hold of it. As the scarlet blade passed her by for the final time, Weiss lunged forward, sword-arm extended in a thrust for chest.

_I have her!_

The heiress's sense of triumph evaporated at the sound of Professor Goodwitch's whistle. Her pale blue eyes blinked several times as her focus shattered into a thousand pieces and she found that her assumption of victory had been a premature. Ruby had collapsed the Crescent Rose, and was holding the now considerably shortened barrel of the weapon inches shy of Weiss's chin. Weiss cursed herself silently for her carelessness and then Ruby in turn for the stupid grin on her face.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, take a break to recover; In twenty minutes we'll move on to the next exercise," Professor Goodwitch instructed with an authoritative tone.

Ruby relaxed her shoulders and offered a hand to shake, "Call it a draw?"

The Schnee heiress lowered her weapon but remained tense, ignoring the handshake with an exasperated sigh, "Sure,"

A draw wasn't good enough though; Father certainly wouldn't approve. Worse still, as Weiss heaved breath after breath from the exertion, Ruby didn't seem to have so much as broken a sweat.

_In this world there are winners and losers, _Father had said it hundreds of times, _And I have no time for losers. _


	3. Taking a Breather

**Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the action scene in the last chapter, because we're not done with the RWBY / JNPR practice session yet, though this is admittedly the 'breather episode.' Enjoy, and please review!**

"I caught a Yang," Blake stated flatly, holding the grip of her weapon in one hand and the same little covered book as before in the other.

"Dammit Blake! Let me outta this!" Yang demanded impotently as she jerked about fruitlessly on the ground, wrists and ankles bound by the Gambol Shroud's ribbon.

"Uh.. Yang?"

"Yes, sister dearest?" Yang's eyes were starting to take on a reddish hue in her frustration.

"How'd she manage to tie you up like that?"

"I don't wanna talk about it…" Yang mumbled dejectedly before her anger returned, "Blake, so help me I'll-!"

Without a word Blake gave a little tug on her weapon and all of the sudden Yang was barrel-rolling in the grass with implausible speed until a few seconds later, when she came to rest facedown, hands and feet free.

"Thanks," Yang muttered, sitting out a mouthful of field, "but I better not have grass stains!"

Blake just shrugged; she was getting to the good part.

"So I guess Blake won your match huh sis?" Ruby asked, more a point of clarification than a real question.

"Yeah," the brawler admitted, still brushing bits of grass off of herself as she got to her feet again, "How 'bout you?"

"Tie," Ruby shrugged, "turns out Weiss can really move…"

"Damn, Princess! I didn't know you had it in ya!" Yang shouted over to the Schnee heiress, humiliation forgotten, "We'll have to go a round next time!"

"Right," Weiss replied half-heartedly, _there wouldn't have been a 'next time' if this hadn't been a training exercise. _

Yang cocked her head at Weiss's mellow response; normally Weiss _hated _being called 'princess.'

"Did you guys manage to catch any of the JNPR matches?" Ruby asked hopefully, kicking the grass bashfully, "we were kind of busy the whole time…"

Yang snorted, "Yeah; after I went down I saw the last few times Jaune got tossed like a ragdoll-," she sniggered, "it was actually pretty funny, especially the way Pyrrha apologized with every hit!"

"Ren and Nora couldn't get a solid hit in on each other though," Blake added, not sounding very interested.

As her teammates took the time to swap their accounts of the exercise, and in Yang's case, play damage control, Weiss found herself waxing contemplative. Seventeen years of education, training, and dedication to her goal; what had they all been for? She couldn't even handily trounce a girl _two years too young for Beacon! _She took a deep breath again, _clam down Weiss, at least Father didn't see-_

"Gah!" Weiss exclaimed with absolutely no regard to just how undignified the sound was, far too busy with the sudden task of disentangling herself from the one person she knew with more boundless energy than her team leader, "Nora! Get off me!"

The human incarnation of caffeine instantly complied, "Oops! Sorry Weiss! It's just that your fight was _SOOOO SHINY!"_

Weiss blinked several times in puzzlement, "Shiny?"

"Yeah!" Nora exploded, "First you were like _whoosh-, _and then it was _bang! _And then _BOOM! _I didn't see much after the fireball 'cause, you know, Ren, but-,"

"Hey Nora,"

"Yes?" she immediately clammed up at Weiss's questioning voice.

"How do you…" Weiss trailed off searching for more dignified words that weren't forthcoming, "do it? I mean, how are you always so happy and energetic all the time?"

Nora tilted her head to the side as she thought it over, though she made it plain that she did not grasping Weiss's meaning when she answered, "Well breakfast is _very important; _I prefer pancakes, do you like pancakes? _OH my gosh! We can be PANCAKE BUDDIES!" _

Weiss sighed, it seemed she was making a habit of that, "Never mind,"

Weiss let Ren coax Nora away when he caught up to his partner, and was once again left alone with her thoughts. No matter how she looked at it, she needed to be better, better than she was, she needed to be _good enough for Father. _Weiss shook her head, banishing the thought from her head; it wouldn't do any good to fret over this now; training was training, and she could improve. _She would improve. Strike that, I will do better. _

"You got that Weiss?"

The Heiress was jolted back to herself with a jolt, "Ah, what!"

"The plan…" Yang raised an eyebrow, "Might help if you paid attention there Princess…"

"Uh, right," Weiss nodded, taking a step toward her three teammates until she saw that Yang had her arms draped over Ruby and Blake's shoulders, who in turn had their arms extended to beckon her into the circle, "What are you doing?"

"It's a huddle…" Ruby explained, dopey smile faltering from her face, "you know… a pre-game huddle… they do it on sports teams…"

"Eh…" Weiss rolled her eyes, "fine,"

"Yeah!" Ruby shouted _right in her ear, _as Weiss reluctantly joined the ring of interlocking arms and shoulders, "Now, one more time; take it away Blake!"

"Wait," Weiss interjected, "If you're the team leader, why aren't _you _making the plan?"

"Uhhh… Take it away, Blake!" Ruby dodged the question with all the finesse of an Ursa.

Weiss gritted her teeth, but let it go.

"Alright," Blake began, "for starters, we have one advantage that they don't," she jerked her head in in team JNPR's direction as they did a similar huddle across the field, "We have four _competent _fighters, where as they have three fighters and a Jaune-,"

"Blake! That isn't very nice-, Jaune is a nice guy…"

"A nice guy who'd blow away in a stiff breeze…" Yang mumbled.

Ruby shot her sister a glare, "You be nice too sis!"

"She's right though," Weiss agreed, begrudgingly entering the conversation, "Jaune is definitely their weakest link, so if we take him out first…"

Blake nodded, picking the line of thought back up, "then it'll be four on three. But if we want to get at Jaune, someone's going to have to go through Pyrrha first…"

Weiss kept her face blank, but she definitely shared in the sentiment so clearly given voice by the shiver that she felt run down Ruby's spine.

"Any volunteers?" Blake floated the question without much expectation coloring her voice.

"I can take her," Yang volunteered with a confident smile.

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure about that?"

"Hell yeah! Why not?"

"But-," Ruby whispered, as though telling a secret, "what about the cereal boxes?"

"Huh?"

"Right, moving on," Blake cut in before Pyrrha's status as a star athlete could be dredged up, "I think you should go for Jaune then Weiss,"

"What?" Weiss demanded, taking offense, "just how pathetic do you think I am?"

Blake sighed, "Calm down, you just have to put Jaune out of the match and then help Yang deal with Pyrrha,"

Weiss had to bite back her pride with visible displeasure; it was a sensible plan.

"Okay then!" Ruby broke in again, "Then I'll take Nora!"

"Say it a little louder you dunce! I don't think they heard you!" Weiss chastised her leader like a disapproving parent, "the plan won't work if they hear it!"

"…" Ruby's face took on an 'oops' expression before staring intently at her shoes, "sorry,"

Clearing her throat, "Alright then, I guess I've got Ren. Do we all agree?"

Weiss and Ruby nodded in unison.

"Let's do this!" Yang forcefully clapped Ruby and Blake on the back as she said it, very nearly causing her three huddled teammates to collapse in a heap, the two adjacent members under the force of her enthusiasm and Weiss from the inability to extricate herself from the other two.

Mercifully, the team was able to disentangle itself without falling over, and they did so just in time for Team JNPR to come over, Nora bouncing along in the lead, "Hey again everybody!" she intoned in a singsong voice, "You ready?"

"Yep!" Ruby responded energetically, "You guys?"

Pyrrha nodded with her usual pleasant smile and offered a hand to shake, "Good luck out there,"

Yang vigorously accepted the handshake with a meaningful grin, "You too,"

"Schi-Nee cola?" Jaune offered, arriving last and struggling to keep a hold of an armload of clinking cans, "I figured we could all use a drink after the first exercise so I figured… well… There's a vending machine over there so…"

"Yeah sure, I'll have one," Yang grabbed a can and opened it, taking swig, "thanks Jaune; kinda makes me feel sorry for what's about to go down,"

As Nora snatched a can with a look of glee on her face as she shook it with such violence that it exploded when she then attempted to open it, the others likewise indulged in June's offer of fizzy beverages, albeit without undue agitation. Weiss stood aloof from the others, mentally preparing herself for the fight to come; perhaps working as a team like they had during initiation would-

"Hey Snow Angel,"

Weiss cringed at the sound of her least favorite of her nicknames. _Let's see, there's Princess, Snow Angel, spoiled child, rich bit-_

"Uh... Weiss?"

"What?" She demanded, visibly flustered.

Jaune flinched, "Please don't hurt me! I just wanted to offer you a soda-,"

"No thank you," she answered curtly, not letting him finish, "I don't care for Schi-Nee cola,"

"Huh?" Jaune queried dimly, "but doesn't your family make this stuff?"

"What of it?" she snapped, "that stuff's nothing but sugar anyway,"

"Well, yeah, but-,"

Yang muscled into the awkward dialogue, taking the extra can from Jaune's hand forcefully pushing it into Weiss's hands, "Just take it Princess," she insisted, "he was nice enough to buy it for you so you could at least be appreciative,"

_Everything you have, you have because you are my daughter and the heir to the Schnee name, young lady, _he would always say, voice cold and eyes like ice,_ Be appreciative of that fact; I expect you to live up to the family name. _

Weiss swallowed, mumbling, "Yes father,"

"What?"

"Nothing!" Weiss denied, lifting the can to her lips and tilting it back, hoping that the spectacle of Weiss Schnee drinking a canned soda would be sufficient to distract Jane and yang.

"Uh Weiss… you might want to _open _the can…"

**Author's Note: Okay, so this one was admittedly a bit more of a fluff chapter than the other two, but fear not, I'll have that RWBY / JNPR brawl out next time, Probably around Wednesday or Thursday (largely because I have classes and such). Please let me know what you thought, thanks!. **


	4. Falling Short

**Author's Note: Okay here's that brawl I promised; I actually finished a lot sooner than I thought I would (probably owing something to the time that I probably should have spent studying) and it's considerably longer than the previous ones. Whether or not future chapters will be as long is kind of up in the air at the moment. Enjoy, and please, let me know what you think; I'd love to improve. **

_This is it; remember the plan Weiss…_

Teams RWBY and JNPR stood arrayed at opposite ends of the training field, Professor Goodwitch midway between them on the sideline to observe, holding the whistle to her lips. The tension was palpable; try as she might to hold Myrtenaster level, there was no denying that her heart was racing in anticipation of the impending conflagration.

_Am I the only one this nervous? _Weiss asked herself as she surveyed the faces of team JNPR, all of whom, to include Jaune perplexingly enough, wore expressions depicting eagerness and determination in varying balances. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Yang, standing opposite Pyrrha, holding a bouncy pugilist stance with her Ember Celica fully deployed. Beyond that, all she could see of Ruby and Blake was that they too had weapons drawn, Ruby's cloak flapping at her sides in the breeze.

_Get a grip Weiss! _She chided herself as Goodwitch inhaled, _It's simple; take out tall blonde and scraggly, then move on to Pyrrha, _she swallowed at the prospect of facing off with the four-time Mystral Cup champion. And then the whistle blew, the shrill blast rang out, piercing Weiss's nervous contemplation.

At the sound of the whistle, Ruby aimed Crescent Rose backward and fired it, rocketing herself forward into the fray. Fast as she was though, Ruby could've sworn that she'd seen Blake appear next to her momentarily and then vanish forwards at a baffling speed to engage Ren with a rapid flurry of blows. As Ruby admired the speed with which Blake and Ren exchanged attacks however, she was blind to the giggling pink blur with the giant hammer. Her priorities were straightened rather concussively however, as Magnhild slammed into her side, sending her to the ground twenty feet away in a tumble of red cloth.

_Right then, _Ruby thought to herself, immensely grateful for the protection of her aura, struggling awkwardly to her and trying not to step on her cloak, _time for sweetheart to strut her stuff. _

She took a fighting stance holding the blade of Crescent Rose ready on her left, bracing for Nora's next attack.

Nora, it seemed, hadn't been in on the plan though, as, rather than oblige a now much better prepared Ruby, she instead skipped merrily to Ren's aid.

"Huh?" Blake's plan seemed to have kinda fallen at the first hurdle… Although, as the one who'd knocked it down… well… glass houses…

Seeking to make up for her error, Ruby darted after Nora like a wolf after an oblivious rabbit. A paradoxical surge of relief washed over her as she cut Nora off a scant few meters from Blake and Ren's dizzying exchange of blows, parries, and countermoves and she saw Nora's hammer hurtling down at her from on high. It was only then that a healthy dose of survival instinct took over and deflected the oncoming blow by spinning her weapon, catching the handle of Nora's hammer, sweeping the head aside to strike the ground with a percussive boom. Instinctively Ruby then withdrew the Crescent Rose, weaving the shaft between her arms and back, proceeding to initiate full-body spinning attack.

As she began the attack though, she quickly became aware of an anomalous lack of impact after her first few revolutions. When next she faced where Nora had been standing, she saw why: Nora was no longer standing there, but rather, she was balanced upside-down on the shaft of her hammer, and giggled with a little salute much as Ruby herself often did, but by the time she processed this fact she was already facing the other direction again and forcefully knocked off balance by an explosion from the head of Magnhild which launched its wielder skyward with an enthusiastic "YEEEEHAAA!"

Stabilizing herself and turning on her heals, Ruby raised the Crescent Ross and began firing skyward, attempting to hit the bubbly airborne girl who was simultaneously heart-stamped explosive shells wildly all over the place. The first stuck the ground beside Blake, sending her reeling and leaving her wide open and the next slamming squarely between Yang and Pyrrha, interrupting what might have been a decisive blow on Yang's part. The final shot that Nora got off rocketed straight for Ruby, who dove forward to escape the raining fire, having failed to score a hit.

Having slowed her fall with the recoil from her airborne sortie, Nora landed, clumsily toppling over, but unharmed. Unruffled though, she was back on her feet once more extending Magnhild's grip in an instant, ready Ruby, who was rocketing in her direction at that very moment. Nora met Ruby's attempted overhead stroke by catching the Crescent Rose's shaft with Magnhild's and spring a glance to look over to the right in time to cheer Ren on as he sent Blake flying with a palm strike charged with his aura. Ruby couldn't help getting distracted, gaping in disbelief as Blake skidded to a halt in the grass some distance away.

"Miss Belladonna, your aura has dipped into the red; you are out of this match," Professor Goodwitch announced, officially freeing Ren's attention for another target.

_Uh-oh…_

Suddenly and unexpectedly, Ruby felt herself lurching forward, owing to Nora's having collapsed her weapon again and leveling the stout barrel at the startle Scythe-wielder mere scarcely a meter away. Ruby's deer-in-the-headlights expression met with the older (but perhaps no more mature) girl's broad ear to ear smile and one free hand waving an enthusiastic goodbye as the trigger was pulled and the both of them were swallowed by an explosion of pink.

Coughing a few times and heaving a few deep breaths when after finding herself plastered to the ground in a dizzy haze, Ruby shook her head a few times in hopes of getting her vision back into focus, she became dimly aware that Nora was similarly plopped on her rear opposite her, hair and face liberally blackened. Nora seemed more resilient though, resuming her friendly little grin and wave heedless of her blackened face.

Ruby just stared, dumbfounded, _How does she stay so chipper? I mean… we just exploded! _

"Miss Rose, Miss Valkyrie, you two are out of the match!"

_~ Ninety Seconds Earlier~_

Frustration building and golden sparks scattering with each successive impact, Yang rained blows furiously on Pyrrha, only to have each and every one of them thwarted that shield of hers. Neither her fists nor the shells erupting from above her knuckles could persuade the golden disk to move, and the worst part was, wasn't even paying full attention! From what little Yang managed to catch of Pyrrha's face over _that damned shield, _its bearer was frequently glancing off to her right to see how Jaune was doing. Yang wasn't sure what pissed her off more, the fact that Pyrrha didn't consider the threat to her own person represented by Yang to necessitate her fullest attention, or that or that even with slit focus the redhead was wasn't missing a beat.

_Dammit! _Yang fumed, _if I could just-_

There came the sound of a weapon discharging from Pyrrha's side of the shield for once, but no projectile was forthcoming, not in Yan's direction anyway. Instead, Yang was surprised to find Pyrrha pulling back, causing her next blow not to connect, and in a sudden rush of red hair and amber metal, Pyrrha surged forward, striking Yang hard in the stomach with the edge of her shield. Yang's breath deserted her with such force that it was all she could not to collapse as the reeled backward, giving Pyrrha an opening call back the Milo back to her extended hand, having served its purpose by interrupting Weiss's attempted attack on Jaune, currently hacking at the iced that froze him to the spot, a menace only to himself. In that moment the whole fight was knocked on its head and Pyrrha seized the initiative. Yang was forced to swallow huge gulps of air on the fly as she scrambled to dodge and block Pyrrha's spear thrusts by turns. Even when she got the chance to hazard a counter-stroke, Pyrrha withdrew behind Akouo, converting her weapon to its rifle form in an instant and opening up with a salvo of fire in place of jabs from cover.

_Dammit Dammit DAMMIT! This is not good; she's always so nice and well, clam in class… It's like she's a whole different person…_

Yang changed up her approach, tying instead to take hold of Pyrrha's shield with both hands and wrench it away, and was rewarded with a nasty right jab to the ribs for her trouble.

_No dice eh? FINE THEN! THE GLOVES ARE OFF!... Well actually- Dammit, never mind!_

Pivoting into a right turn on her left foot, Yang grabbed Pyrrha's spear from where it protruded over her shield in both hands. Dropping to a knee as she did so, Yang heaved Pyrrha over her shoulder. She'd only meant to disarm Pyrrha, but she'd stubbornly held her grip on Milo and gotten thrown for her for her efforts. Standing again, Yang shook the soreness out of her arms; Pyrrha didn't look it, but she was built like a _tank_ and throwing her had been a greater exertion that Yang would've expected; she didn't take long though, and before Pyrrha had the chance to get her footing back Yang charged full tilt.

"I HOPE YOU'R READY FOR-,"

In that instant, everything went to hell. Again. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, no matter how fasts she thought she was running. Streaking down from on high, a small canister with little pink heart stamped on the side, trailing pink Dust no less, came between the charging blonde and the bracing redhead. Recognition dawned on Yang in an instant and she broke off her sprinting dash, but she might've more easily halted a freight train. Nora's wild shot struck earth closer to Pyrrha, but she deflected most of the blast with her shield, and the wave of concussive force therefore served to assist Yang's rapid halt.

Her arms going like pinwheels for balance, Yang was again frustrated to see that Pyrrha had judged herself free to turn and check on Jaune _again. _ She got off a few shots in Weiss's direction before Yang was on a stable footing again, but knew better than to persist in ignoring Yang for long and was once more positioned to absorb the blonde's next blow with her shield, but Yang didn't get the chance make good the adrenaline-fueled blow. A hailstorm of small, stinging impacts worked their way up the boxer's back, and turning as she just barely dodged Pyrrha's own thrust from the front, she saw Ren running at her.

_Oh crap, oh crap OH CRAP! _Yang thought as she frantically discharged shell after shell in Ren's direction while simultaneously trying to move wide of Pyrrha, totally oblivious to the whistle blasts, so single-minded had been her focus, _I guess that means that Blake-_

"Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed, a note of panic coloring her voice.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Yang did a double-take as tall blonde and scraggly himself rocketed headlong through the air, culminating in a train wreck of a collision with Ren leaving both of them sprawled on the ground.

"I'm okay!" Jaune called out weakly.

"Lie Ren," It was Goodwitch, "You're out of this match!"

Shaking her head and returning to the take at hand, Yang turned back to face Pyrrha and-, "What the-!"

Pyrrha had thrown her shield like a Frisbee, taking Yang full force in the stomach _again, _this time knocking her flat on her back.

"Miss Xiao Long," Came Goodwitch's voice again, a real buzzkill now that she thought about it, "That's all for you too, come on off of the field,"

_Well, guess that's that, _she sat up, cupping her hands around her mouth and shouting, "Hey Princess! It's up to you!"

~ Approximately 120 Seconds Earlier ~

The whistle rang out.

_Remember the plan Weiss; take Jaune down and move on to Pyrrha. You don't need to be at a hundred percent to take Jaune. _

A blue-white glyph flickered to life under her feet, and in an instant the world blurred around her and she was surging towards the hapless leader of Team Juniper. Realizing his peril, Jaune's eyes widened in his own expression of uniquely inept panic as he fumbled with his shield, trying to make it deploy.

_I've got him! _Weiss allowed herself a little grin, but then a walloping impact from the right, sending her off trajectory as she turned, still sliding smoothly over the grass , to see who was responsible.

_Pyrrha! _Weiss cringed, _It would be her, but wheres…?_

No, it was evident that Yang had not dropped the ball here, though it may have been appropriate to suggest that perhaps the ball had been too large a burden for her to assume alone in the first place; with Akouo in one are to block Yang's fists and even the occasional kick, Pyrrha Nikos simultaneously managed to Milo, in rifle mode, in Weiss's general direction. Mercifully, the Mystral Cup champion's aim wasn't particularly accurate, attention ton as it was in two opposing directions. To catch the odd few rounds that actually came her way after that first one Weiss cast a vertical glyph as a shield and held it until Yang managed a glancing blow and Pyrrha could no longer split her focus.

Letting out a little sigh of relief, Weiss once more assumed a fencing stance, ready to thrust, and propelled herself at the lanky boy anew. To her frustration though, Jaune managed to finally deploy his shield in time to catch Myrtenaster and deflect it off to the right side. Undeterred, Weiss improvised a pirouette and slashed at shins. Jaune stumbled, and continuing the dance-like rotation, Weiss struck him again, just below the wrist of his sword arm, causing him to drop his weapon.

_I won't even need to-_

Before the Heiress could finish that simultaneously relieved and self-satisfied thought though, her footing was abruptly taken out from under her in a rush of gold and pain, the latter muted thankfully, by her Aura. Wincing, Weiss rolled out of the way before Jaune could make even a feeble attempt to exploit the opportunity, as he was still collecting his sword. Dusting herself off exasperatedly as she stood, Weiss watched as Pyrrha pulled Akouo back with her personal magnetism, all the while dodging and repelling Yang by turns with Milo, now in sword form.

_I can't believe it! She's fighting BOTH of us! _

Yang seemed to be turning up the heat now though, actual flames beginning erupt here and there now, but Weiss nonetheless made a mental note not to allow Pyrrha to get the drop on her again like that.

Teeth clenched, Weiss turned Myrtenaster's chamber to the red setting, _Perhaps I should follow Yang's example…_

Weiss launched a series of Dust-fueled fireballs at Jaune, who was not nearly so ready to respond to them as Ruby had been. Though the first one met with his shield, more by dumb luck than anything else, the second exploded at his feet, and by the third, he simply hit the deck, not having a plan.

_I can do this, _Weiss allowed herself a slightly broader grin now, _I suppose he's a nice, if also a bit dim, but still... Love and war… _

With that, Weiss shifted Myrtenaster to the blue setting drove it downward, sending a river of ice forward in Jaune's direction, _If it worked on that insufferable little red dunce, than this dolt hasn't got a prayer. _

As planned, Jaune, now back on his feet, was frozen about the ankles and fixed to the ground on which he stood. Pulling Myrtenaster back up from the ground, Weiss positioned herself for another stroke and launched herself forward, skating inches above the field supported on her glyph as she hurtled at the helpless dolt from behind as he ineffectually chipped at the ice in a panicked frenzy. Finally Weiss managed a direct hit, Myrtenaster striking Jaune like a lance as she dashed by.

Jaune grunted as the breath vacated his lungs and the force of the blow doubled him over; it was only by his sword, now plunged into the frosted ground. The force of Weiss's blow had dislodged one of his feet from the ice, but Jaune was still rooted down by the other. As Weiss's velocity ebbed away and drifted to a halt she turned one foot, positioning for another attack, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that, once again, Pyrrha didn't appear totally focused one the storm of fists and shells that Yang delivered upon her shield. Weiss's eyes widened as they met Pyrrha's determined green ones, but then she steeled herself.

"Not this time!" Weiss shouted her defiance as she materialized a defensive glyph just in time for Pyrrha's javelin to bounce off in a shower of blue sparks just an arm's reach away.

Unfortunately, Jaune had freed himself in that time and was clumsily attempting a fighting stance despite the unwieldy chunks of ice still clinging to his ankles. Her triumphant determination turning to an annoyed grimace as she turned her attention back to Jaune. Rushing forward Weiss closed the distance faster than Jaune was prepared for and parried Jaune's attempt to strike first , counting with a slash and a thrust of her own before repelling once more out of reach.

_How much can he take?_

Feeling the strain beginning to set in, compounded by the lack of apparent progress, though her morale received a boost when she say Yang pitch Pyrrha over her shoulder, _Right, time to pull my weight. _

This time though, she dismissed the glyph she'd been gliding on and took a defensive stance. Jaune interpreted this as an opening and started barreling her way. _Just as planned…_

She stepped to the left and parried his attack, positioning herself beside him and then pivoted so as to jab him once, twice, three times in the back .

Then Goodwitch's voice sounded, giving Weiss a renewed spark of enthusiasm, only to have it dashed with the words, "Miss Belladonna," after which she tuned it out with a cringe; _Ren must have gotten the better of her-. _

Then it got worse as Goodwitch called out Ruby's name, though thankfully Nora's name was right behind, _That makes three on two-, not god, not good!_

As Ren shifted his focus and opened up on Yang as he came at her Weiss panicked, conjuring a glyph that darkened as a startled Jaune was magnetized to its vertical surface, and then shifted the g glowing disc in Ren's direction with a likewise move of Myrtenaster and her free hand.

"Oh God!" Jaune whimpered, just in time to be blasted away by the rapidly brightening circle so as to act as a human projectile.

Weiss couldn't help but wince as Jaune careened into Ren with such violence that both were left flattened on the ground when the tumbling had ceased, though relief swiftly overtook remorse as Professor Goodwitch called out, "Lie Ren, you are out of this match!" Then frustration surged back when Jaune's name was not also forthcoming.

_Seriously?_

Her annoyance was short-lived as well, however, as she blanched to a special shade of pale when Yang was knocked down and out.

"Hey Princess!" Yang called out after being disqualified, "It's up to you!"

Weiss made a pathetic attempt to repress the horrified expression on her face as Pyrrha turned to face her now, _How did this happen? This wasn't the plan!_

But as Pyrrha began to run her way, Weiss planted her feet firmly braced for action, _This is just another challenge Weiss, _she gritted her teeth, _an obstacle to overcome; it doesn't matter that this is Pyrrha Nikos, what does Pumpkin Pete know anyway? _

Weiss stood her ground until Pyrrha was less than three meters away. Weiss then dove forward and to the right, rolling under Pyrrha's sword arm and elicited a half an instant's pause for Weiss to stand behind JNPR's Star athlete and launch a thrust. Pyrrha batted Myrtenaster aside as she turned back to face Weiss and swung her shield as a bludgeon. Weiss only just barely managed to backpedal far enough so that the golden rim of the shield only displaced her bangs.

"Woooooo! You can do it Weiss!" Ruby cheered from the sidelines, apparently blind to the severity of Weiss's predicament, "Winn this for Team RWBY!"

Weiss tried to block a sword stroke from Pyrrha, but hadn't anywhere near the necessary muscle, and so was forced to back-pedal once more.

_I have no patience for failure, _He was always so stern, judgmental expression etched in granite, _Set aside your weakness Weiss; flinch and they'll devour you._

Weiss lunged forward again to Pyrrha's surprise, driving first at her foot and then her torso faster than the redhead could react to the unpredictable move.

_Ruthlessness Weiss; that is the key to success, and success is what a Schnee does best._

Weiss briefly called up a glyph at her feet once more to drift wide around Pyrrha's counterattack, pirouetting as she skated around her opponent, striking her several times in the front and sides.

_Then I'll be the best at everything! _A wide-eye Weiss Schnee had happily pledged seven years old; _I'll be a good girl and do my best!_

As Pyrrha wheeled around again, Weiss discharged the last of her fire dust in a desperate bid to hold off Pyrrha for a precious few more seconds. I worked. As Pyrrha stumbled, Weiss darted forward again, leading off with a thrust to her opponent's torso and following up with a swift uppercut.

_I have her! I can't believe it! I have her on-_

"I'M COMING PYRRHA!" Jaune came charging back afresh.

_I'll listen to my tutors, and I'll sing real pretty, and I'll practice really really hard! I promise!_

_Dammit, no, no, NO! _Weiss screamed inside her own head, _I can't handle this!_

Force to turn and parry Jaune, Weiss was left exposed from behind as Pyrrha recovered. Weiss squeezed her eyes shut and fell to her knees as she desperately held her right hand up to Pyrrha, summoning a glyph to defend herself from the downward driving spear-thrust, shattering the defense.

_Just see that you do not disappoint me._

The whistle rang out once more, ending the match, "That's enough! Miss Schnee-,"

Weiss's hands fell to the earth, clenching shaking fistfuls of grass.

"-Your aura is exhausted; Team JNPR wins!" Goodwitch finished, cancelling the display on her scroll, "Well fought,"

_If you're not a winner, then you're a loser; never forget that._

Pyrrha slung her shield and weapon on her back and extended a hand to Weiss, "It was a good match; you should be proud,"

_Failure is a disgrace._

The Schnee heiress stood without taking her victorious opponent's hand, swallowing as she struggled to keep her voice level, forcing a smile, "You too,"

"That… was… AWESOME!" Nora exclaimed, bouncing a mile a minute as she rushed over and grabbing Weiss's hands in her own, face still covered in black and pink soot, "I've never hit Pyrrha _that many times_ before!"

"… Right…"

As the others converged on the last ones standing Weiss remained silent. The rest of them were eager enough to take the chance to swap pointers and observations at Professor Goodwitch's insistence, but the Schnee Heiress couldn't think, and took the earliest opportunity to fade out of the group without a farewell and headed for the dorms, fighting to keep a grip on herself. No one attempted to flag her down along the way; most all of the other students knew her frosty reputation at this point. She opened the door of team RWBY's dorm and proceeded to her desk, pulling her diary and a pen out of a drawer, unable to hold it in anymore.

_I'm sorry Daddy…_


	5. Dear Daddy

**Author's Note: Hello all, so here's chapter five; for those of you who wanted more Ruby in this RWBY story, stick around for the latter half of this chapter. I have a general idea about where I'm going with this in the immediate future, but the longer term is a bit hazy, so if anyone has ideas that they're willing to share, I'd love to see it in the reviews, as well as any critiques that you may have. Enjoy!**

_The Princess picked a hell of a time to just vanish, _Yang fumed, _If I don't catch up with the other fast then Blake will order anchovies on all the pizzas!_

There hadn't been a bet beforehand, but everyone was hungry after the mutual thrashing session, and disappointed though she was, Ruby thought that her team should be graceful losers and thus treat the lot of them to pizza.

_That reminds me…_Yang thought further, _she's filthy rich…. _"She is soooo picking up the tab…"

Yang had volunteered to go get Weiss, Ruby having gotten caught up with Nora loudly reenacting their favorite moments from the fight through a mixture of spastic gestures and verbal sound effects, and Blake had once more buried face in her book again immediately following her knock-out. Thus, Yang Xiao Long found herself briskly jogging to go check Team RWBY's dorm for Weiss, and so upon arrival, she threw the door open impatiently without bothering to announce herself Yang burst into the room

"Hey Princess! We're going for pizza!"

Weiss slammed dropped her pen, catching her breath in surprise before wiping her eyes with her sleeve and composing herself, "Thank you, but I'm not going,"

Yang looked over to her left, the direction from which Weiss's voice had come, "Wha-,"

"_I said no, thank you," _Weiss insisted, a tone of hostility coloring her voice for an instant, but it faded just as quickly back to despondency, "Now please, just… just leave me alone…"

It was only now that Yang's eyes narrowed and she appeared to take notice of the fact that the lights were all of; the only light in the room coming in through gap in the drapes, "…Princess…"

"I'm sure that I'm not needed for your party Yang," Weiss stared down at her desk again, closing the little red book with a blank cover.

"Come on!" Yang rolled her eyes, "you can't seriously be that broken up about losing-,"

"Yang I failed," Weiss cut her off, "that's what it boils down to,"

"You _failed_?" Yang guffawed, "It was friggen practice match! Don't take it so seriously!"

Weiss shot up from her chair, "Don't take it seriously? What we'd been up against a pack of Grimm, or the White Fang? What then? Goodwitch won't always be there to call the match!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Yang demanded, getting angry now, "Our friends aren't Grimms, Weiss! Don't be such a damned poor sport!"

Weiss could feel her face reddening with indignation even as could no longer hold back all the tears, "Shut up-!"

"So you lost a match to _Pyrrha Nikos_! Big whoop! So did I!" Yang pressed, "So did I-, Hell, she took both of us _at once_! Get over yourself!"

"I couldn't even beat _Jaune_!" Weiss shouted back, the first of the frustrated, self-disappointed tears rolling down her cheek despite her best effort to choke them back, "There is _no excuse for that kind of failure! _It's a disgrace! I-, I am a disgrace!"

Yang's eyes went red, and with one hand she grabbed Weiss by the lapel in one hand and Weiss's makeup kit from the desk with the other, "Get the hell over yourself you stuck up little bitch! I am so sick of your crappy attitude! I thought you'd grow up a little after that spat with Ruby, but no! I bit my tongue when you and Blake had your fight, and hell, I even thought you'd learned something when that blew over, but you're still as _fucking self-centered as EVER!_ I hate to break it to you Princess, but you can't just live with your own _perfect little reflection!_"

At the sight of her own bloodshot sapphire eyes Weiss winced and slapped the pocket sized mirror out of the angry blonde's hand, "My own reflection? I _hate_ mirrors! All I ever see is how I've never been good enough!"

Yang laughed bitterly, reaching down onto the desk for the little red book with her recently vacated hand, "Not good enough? That's some ego! I suppose you think that you should have been able to win the match all by yourself? Is that what you scribbled about in here before I showed up? No wait-, don't tell me-, I bet it's about how much you hate Pyrrha?"

Weiss's eyes widened and she blanched, reaching for the little red book in panicked futility as Yang held her at an arm's length, "No! Please Yang!" Weiss begged, debasing herself as she'd never for anyone, "Please… don't…"

Ignoring Weiss's pleas in her anger, Yang flipped the book open in one hand, a vindictive look sneer on her face, "I always wondered what it's like inside your head, Princess," she smirked, "Let's see… _Dear Daddy… _Seriously?"

Weiss's knees buckled buried her face in her hands, "Stop it…" was all she could get out past the choked sobs.

"…_Some asked me out today, but I turned him down; it's like you said daddy: study, study, study. I have the family name to think about after all…_" Yang rolled her eyes and flipped a few pages forward, "_Dear daddy, I made it through the initiation today and got assigned to a team…I wasn't good enough to be appointed leader though… I'm sorry… I'll do better next time… The girl Ozpin named leader is some sort of awkward prodigy child! She's careless and annoying, but so strong… it's, it's just not fair!_" The anger bled out of Yang's voice more and more as she continued, flipping ahead, now stopping at Weiss's last entry, "_I'm sorry Daddy, I just couldn't do it; I did my best but my best just wasn't good enough. I couldn't help it- they were just better than me- I'll improve, I promise- so please don't throw me away like Mom…?" _Yang's voice trailed off, "Oh my God… Weiss… I-,"

Weiss didn't wait for Yang's damned pity. Getting back to her feet Weiss bolted from the room, tears streaming down her face now.

~ About half an hour later ~

Ruby found her sitting alone on the roof of their dorm, leaning up against the wall to the left of the door. Her head was tipped back as though to look skyward, but her eyes were squeezed shut and her cheeks were damp and red. She'd never seen Weiss like this, it felt so… wrong. Weiss was confident, overbearing even, not some sulky misanthrope… Okay maybe she was kind of a misanthrope generally, but never sulky… It was actually kind of infuriating how Weiss never questioned herself; to see her broken up and doubting herself like this reminded Ruby so much of… herself. Ruby took a deep breath, squeezing a fistful of her cloak to work out her nervousness, _Normal knees…_

"Hey Weiss…"

The dejected girl visibly flinched, though she offered no response. Never had anyone so loathed the sound of her own name.

Ruby walked over and sat down beside her partner, "Yang told me about what happened," she hesitated, "and about your diary…"

"Great," Weiss laughed bitterly, "now the whole of Beacon gets the inside story on the _Princess's _Daddy issues,"

"I didn't read it," it was admittedly a pitiful reply, but she didn't have anything else, "and I made Yang promise not to tell anyone else,"

"It's not like it matters; she's kind of right I guess…"

"I saved you a slice of pizza," Ruby offered weakly, offering the small plate that she'd brought with her, not knowing how to otherwise proceed, "It's cheese…the last piece… nobody wanted anything to do with the anchovy pizza Blake ordered first…"

"I'm not hungry Ruby," Weiss head fell forward, "and even if I was, do you have any idea how many calories are in that one slice?"

Ruby's silver eyes lit up, "There! That's the Weiss I know! But no… I don't know how many calories that is…" Ruby found herself momentarily considering the _three _slices she'd eaten, and the fact that, until Yang had caught up with them, that she would've eaten this one too… _No Ruby! This isn't the time for that! _

"Ruby… I have a confession to make…"

Ruby's smile faded and she lowered the little Styrofoam plate, "Huh?"

"That was all a lie," Weiss continued, "all a stupid façade… I don't _deserve _better than this: I didn't _deserve _to be team leader either; I- I just needed to be the _best-,_"

"Well yeah, I want to do my best too-, we all do-,"

"No Ruby, you don't get it; I needed to _be _the best," Weiss cut her off, "but I'm not Ruby… I'm just… not good enough… Now please, I just need some time alone,"

Mulling over this revelation for a moment, Ruby set the plate down and shook her head, "Nope,"

"Excuse me?"

"Nope." Ruby repeated, wrapping her arms about her knees, "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, but being alone seems like the last thing you need right now," she took a deep breath and let it out before she continued, "I'm no good at social situations or anything like this, but no matter how much people scare me, that doesn't mean that I _want _to be all alone… and as team leader-, no, as _your friend, _I owe it to you be here for you,"

Weiss opened her eyes and looked back up into the clear azure sky, "Damn it Ruby,"

Ruby's heart skipped a beat, _Oh no! Where did I screw up?_

"How do you do it?" Weiss asked, "Initiation, hunting Grimm, just being a good person-, the only things you _aren't _good at are first impressions," Weiss sighed, "Even leadership-, sure you're immature and reckless, but just like with the Nevermore, when it matters…"

"I-, I don't know what to say…"

"Then don't; I've got plenty,"


End file.
